[cogman10]

You also have to explain why will is changed when the brain is damaged.

Really hard to justify free will (IMO) when a person's entire personality can be fundamentally altered by a bash to the head. What does "free will" mean if everything that makes you you can be changed with, say, a lobotomy.

It is, at best, an illusion and nothing more.

[ruthmarx]

There is no illusion, and brain damage has no bearing on free will.

Free will is simply you making a choice, that's it.

If you want to argue about what 'you' means, feel free, but it doesn't really change anything here.

[n4r9]

What is "choice"? Is it simply executing one of a set of possibilities? If you take such a general definition of free will, then a slot machine is manifesting it's free will to deny you a payout.

[ruthmarx]

Making a decision either on impulse, intuition, or rational preferences.

> Is it simply executing one of a set of possibilities? If you take such a general definition of free will, then a slot machine is manifesting it's free will to deny you a payout.

Sure, or even just a dice. Except that's a rather silly definition of free will since it omits the 'will' part, i.e. thought.